Thicker Than Water
by Forlorn Kumquat
Summary: After Paige is born, Patty and Sam hatch a desperate plan to hide her from the Elders. Twenty-two years later, she's back in her sisters' lives, and things are about to get a lot more interesting.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I know, I know, I should be working on Destiny Rewritten. And the next chapter is coming, I swear. But, I've also been working on this one for a while, and I really like how it's going.

* * *

"Push, Patty!"

Patty bit back a scream as she bore down, the effort of giving birth feeling like she was being split in two. She clenched her mother's hand in a painful grip as she met Sam's eyes, down at the foot of the bed. He tried to smile, reassuringly, at her, but she wasn't fooled. His eyes held the same worried expression that hers did.

The baby was early – too early. The baby wasn't supposed to b born for another month and a half, but her water had broken several hours ago. Stress, most likely, but knowing what caused it didn't make her feel any better.

_'Not my baby,'_ she pleaded, silently, as she pushed again on Sam's instruction. _'I've gone through too much to protect this baby; I can't lose her, now.'_

When Sam told her to relax, Patty collapsed back against the pillows bunched up behind her, closing her eyes with exhaustion. She could feel someone wiping the sweat from her forehead, and she opened her eyes to see Sam looking down at her, a concerned expression on his face.

"I'm going to go check on the girls," Penny spoke up, suddenly, standing and heading for the bedroom door. "Make sure they're still asleep."

She slipped out into the hallway, leaving the two of them alone in the room. Patty snuggled against Sam as he stretched out on the bed beside her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close.

"I think you should go to the hospital," Sam spoke up, but Patty shook her head.

"She's half Whitelighter, Sam," she pointed out. "What are we going to do when she's born in swaddling orbs?"

"I'd rather expose magic than lose our child," Sam argued.

"If we go to the hospital, and the Elders find out about the baby," Patty fired back, "then I'm going to lose you, both. No hospital."

"This labor is too hard for you," Sam protested, but Patty quieted him with a finger on his lips.

"Is the baby in any kind of danger?" she asked, and after a moment, Sam shook his head.

"I don't think so," he replied.

"Then I'm fine," Patty finished. "Sam, you can heal me from anything that happens."

"Not anything," Sam argued, hotly. "Patty-"

"I can feel another contraction coming on," Patty interrupted him, suddenly. "It's a big one."

"Okay, okay," Sam said, his voice soothing as he moved back to the foot of the bed. "All right, now, push!"

Patty bore down as hard as she could, clutching at the sheets in both hands. Her breath came out in short, painful gasps, and her world narrowed down to a pinpoint focus.

"I see a head," Sam told her, encouragingly, and Patty let out a surprised laugh, tears streaking down her cheeks. "Patty, push."

"I am," Patty gritted out, shooting him an exasperated look. "You wanna do this?"

"I think I'm good here, thanks," Sam muttered. "Okay, got a shoulder-"

Patty bore down one, final time, feeling a spike of pain run through her.

"Got her," Sam said, his voice distant.

"It's a girl?" Patty asked, but Sam wasn't paying attention to her. "Sam, what's wrong? What's wrong with my baby?"

"She's not breathing," Sam said, after a moment, and Patty could practically feel her heart stop.

"No," she whimpered, and when her mother appeared in the doorway, Patty shot her an imploring look, struggling to sit up in the bed. "She's not breathing. My baby's not breathing."

"Sam," Penny said, warningly, but the Whitelighter was ignoring them, both.

He'd laid the baby down on a clean towel, on the enormous wooden chest at the far end of the room. He was crouched beside the chest, one hand gently tipping the baby's head back, the other over her torso, with two fingers pressed firmly against her breastbone.

"Penny, get over here," Sam snapped, and the older woman hurried to his side. "Take this," Sam added, handing her a bulb. "Into her nose, suction all of that crap out."

Penny did as he instructed, and Sam gently pressed his fingers into the baby's chest, forcing her heart to beat for her. They worked in silence for several long minutes, and Patty's heart was in her throat the whole time. Fear had her heart hammering in her chest, a fear that didn't abate until she heard a thin, high-pitched wail coming from the other side of the room.

"Is she okay?" she demanded, and Sam turned to look at her, relief standing out starkly on his face.

"She's perfect," Sam reassured her, gently. "Our daughter is perfect."

Crossing the room, he handed the carefully-wrapped bundle down to her, and Patty clutched her daughter protectively to her chest, staring down into bright blue eyes.

"I can't do it," she whispered, after a moment. "I can't give her up."

"Patty," Penny said, warningly, but Patty shook her head.

"I can't," she repeated, emphatically. "She nearly died, Mother. I could have lost my baby girl in a heartbeat. I can't do it, again."

"Giving this child up for adoption is the only way to protect her," Penny argued, stubbornly. "We've already talked about this, Patty. Several months ago, in fact. This is the only way."

"It's not the only way," Sam spoke up, into the silence that descended between the two of them. "There's another way to protect our daughter."

"How?" Penny demanded. "If you keep this child, the Elders will be furious. You broke the rules, you knew there would be repercussions – they could decide to take it out on the girls. They might never become Charmed."

"So, I'm supposed to just choose?" Patty demanded. "Three is more important than one, is that what you're saying, Mother?"

"I'm not saying that," Penny argued, but Patty glared at her.

"You've been against my keeping this child since the beginning," she snapped. "Worried about how it might affect the Charmed Ones. Well, I don't care if any of my daughters are Charmed. I just want them to be together, as a family."

"This is the girls' birthright that I'm talking about," Penny shot back.

"This is my daughter," Patty said, firmly. "And, even if it means giving up our family's magic, I can't lose her."

"You don't have to," Sam broke in, before they could continue fighting. "Patty, Penny, please listen to me."

"Anything has to be better than giving her to strangers," Patty replied, stubbornly, ignoring the pointed look her mother shot her.

"It's not a perfect solution," Sam started, "but it might be the only way. I'm going to clip my wings and raise our daughter. As a mortal."

Patty stared at Sam, her mouth falling open in shock.

"You-" she started, but then she trailed off, helplessly.

"I can't lose her, either," Sam said, quietly. "Without my wings, the Elders can't track me. They won't find me – or our daughter."

"You're just going to abandon your other charges," Penny said, accusingly.

"They'll be reassigned," Sam told her. "My charges will be well taken care of. I'm _not_ going to abandon my daughter."

"She still won't know her sisters," Patty said, softly, and Sam reached over and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"When they're all old enough," he told her, "we can tell them the truth. And until then, she'll be with me. She'll be safe, Patty; I swear on my life."

"Where will you go?" Patty asked, but Sam shook his head.

"I don't think I should tell you that," he said, regret clear in his voice. "Patty, the less you know-"

"The safer you and our baby will be," she finished, sadly. "I just can't stand the thought of my daughter being somewhere without me."

"Soon, the Elders will have no reason to look our way," Sam reassured her.

"And, until then, the two of you need to stay hidden," Patty said. She stroked a finger down her baby girl's cheek, holding the child close. "Promise me," she went on, her voice suddenly fierce. "Promise me that you'll keep her safe. Take her somewhere that no one will ever think to look for you."

"I will," Sam swore, and, reluctantly, Patty handed the baby over to him, watching critically as he cradled the infant in his arms.

"Go," Patty said, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. "Before I change my mind."

"She still needs a name," Sam said, quietly. "Any suggestions?"

Patty bit back the instinctive response that she couldn't, that giving her daughter a name would only make it that much harder to let her go. Instead, she turned and looked at the baby lying in Sam's arms, meeting bright blue eyes that were watching her, intently.

"Paige," she finally said, after several long moments. "After your grandmother."

"And Melinda for her middle name," Sam added. "Patty, I swear, Paige will know every day of her life how much you love her."

"She'd better," Patty said, tears shining in her eyes. "I love you both, so much."

"I love you," Sam whispered, bending down and brushing a kiss across her lips. Then, he and Paige orbed away, leaving Patty and Penny alone in the bedroom.

* * *

Sam orbed into the apartment that he'd, unbeknownst to anyone else, including Patty, rented a couple of weeks ago. He hadn't discussed it with Patty, but as soon as they'd started talking about giving up their daughter for adoption, to keep her safe, he'd started working on an alternate plan. He'd found a job, started earning money to live on, and established a life in a big city on the other side of the country, somewhere where they would be completely anonymous. He'd been trying to find a way to stay with Patty and her girls, to keep their whole, mishmash family together, but it had been hard enough to find a way to just keep his daughter.

He hated having to leave Patty behind, knowing that giving up his wings would likely mean that he would never see the woman that he loved ever again. But, it was a necessary sacrifice, one that he was willing to make in order to keep his daughter safe.

He hadn't told Patty, not wanting to worry her, but if the Elders had found out about Paige, the repercussions would be far greater than just her other daughters being in danger of losing their powers. If the Elders discovered what he'd done, he faced having his soul recycled. And Paige – she faced having her powers stripped and being banished from her family.

"I'm not going to let that happen to you," Sam swore, as he gazed down at his infant daughter. "They're never going to touch you; I'll make sure of it."

Paige blinked up at him, yawning hugely as sleep overwhelmed her. Sam took her into the bedroom, laying her down in the bassinet in the corner of the room. There was a separate room that he'd built up as a nursery, but for the first night at least, he wanted his daughter where he could see her.

"Looks like it's just you and me," he murmured, to the sleeping infant. "Don't you worry, sweetheart. We're going to be just fine."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Wow, I did not expect that kind of response to my story. Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing. You're all awesome.

* * *

_**Twenty-two years later**_

"The witch at the end of the dock isn't going to be the one with the power to freeze."

Prue tried not to flinch at the despondent tone in Phoebe's voice. She reached out and gave her baby sister's hand a squeeze, trying to be reassuring, but she had the feeling that she was failing. Fear made her heart hammer in her chest, and she couldn't help the dark tone in her own voice as she spoke.

"It's gonna be me."

"I'll be with you the whole time," Sam told her, and Prue nodded, resolutely.

"Let's do this," she said, squaring her shoulders as she marched down to the dock, her sisters trailing behind her.

She stopped as she got to the end of the dock, staring out at the water – and the demon hiding underneath the tranquil blue.

"You ready for this?" Piper asked, as she and Phoebe flanked Prue on either side.

"Yeah," she answered, but she could hear the tremor in her voice that belied her nerves.

"You don't have to do this," Sam said, from behind her, but Prue ignored him.

"Yes, I do," she said, without taking her eyes off the water.

"Just focus on the demon," Phoebe said, trying to sound encouraging. "That's what this is about."

Prue nodded, wordlessly, walking down the dock to the end. Sam joined her a moment later, a determined expression on his face.

"Let's go face our demons," he said, softly.

When they reached the fuse box, she picked up the cables from where they were resting on the dock, turning to look at Sam who was crouched back by the power switch. He gave her a fiercely determined look, and Prue could see his faith for her in his eyes. She turned her attention back to the demon in the water, staring down at the ripples underneath her feet.

"Okay, you in the water," she said, under her breath, "I know that you've been waiting for this. For me. Well, here I am, so come and get me." Tears choked her throat, and her voice rasped as she continued. "You took what matters most to me, and as long as I live, you will never kill again."

The water began to churn underneath the dock in response to her words, and her hands tightened on the cables she was holding. She took an instinctive step back as the water started to boil only inches away from her feet, and from behind her, she heard a scream.

"Prue, behind you!"

The sheer terror in Phoebe's voice had Prue whirling around to see the demon rising up out of the water behind her, towering over her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Piper freezing Leo to keep him from following her onto the dock, but the majority of her attention was focused on Sam.

At the sight of the demon, the former Whitelighter had bolted forward, placing himself squarely between Prue and the demon. The pair of them were frozen for several long seconds, broken by Sam's hoarse demand.

"No, not her! Take me!" The demon surged forward, engulfing him, and Prue darted forward as Sam swayed, falling heavily to his knees. "No!" he barked, stopping her in her tracks. "Stay back."

Reaching out with an effort, he grabbed the power cables holding them tightly in his hands.

"Now," he gritted out, meeting Prue's gaze, firmly. "Do it."

Prue closed her eyes, briefly. _'God, forgive me,'_ she prayed. Then, she used her power to flip the switch on.

Electricity surged through the cables and into Sam, making him seize up, his face frozen in a rictus of agony. Distantly, Prue heard a wild scream, but she ignored it. She also ignored the flash of light out of the corner of her eye, figuring that it was just Leo orbing to Sam's side. But, she couldn't ignore the hard hand that shoved her roughly away from Sam, or the young woman who fell to her knees beside Sam, wrapping her arms around him and catching him as he fell.

"No, no, no," the woman moaned, tears streaking down her cheeks as she gently lowered Sam to the dock. "Please, no."

Sam suddenly gasped out a painful-sounding breath, his eyes flying open to lock on the young woman's.

"It's gone," he rasped out. "The demon, it's gone."

The woman nodded, pressing her lips into a tight line. "You're okay," she whispered, with a tremulous smile. "I'm going to fix this; you're gonna be okay."

"No, I'm not," Sam forced out, his eyes falling shut with exhaustion.

"You're gonna be okay," the woman repeated, firmly. She swiped angrily at her eyes with the back of her free hand, sniffling to hold back the tears. "What were you even doing fighting a demon, anyway? Demon hunting is my job."

"And protecting you is mine," Sam whispered. "I don't regret it, Paige. Not if you and Aiden are safe."

Paige shook her head, quickly.

"You're going to be okay," she gritted out, a third time, and then she held her free hand over Sam's body.

Her hand began to glow, just like Leo's did when he was healing someone, but Sam didn't look like he was getting better. Nothing seemed to be happening, and the woman scowled fiercely down at her hand.

"Come on," she muttered, under her breath. "Come on, come on. I can do this. I _have_ to do this."

"Stop," Sam breathed, and the woman froze, looking down at him, a stricken expression on her face.

"No," she whispered, tearfully, shaking her head.

"You have to let me go," Sam went on, his voice barely audible. "It's time, Paige."

"I can't," Paige choked out, but Sam didn't seem to hear her. His eyes were unfocused as he stared at something over her shoulder, but Prue couldn't see anything behind the woman.

"Patty?" Sam whispered, and the woman whipped her head around to stare off into the distance. "Patty?"

Paige swallowed, hard, tears shining in her eyes.

"You take care of him," she hissed, angrily. "Do you hear me? If I can't – you take care of him."

A slight breeze picked up, suddenly, enough to ruffle the young woman's hair around her face, and her eyes closed for the briefest moment. When she opened them, again, Sam was gone.

Choking back a sob, Paige gently closed Sam's unseeing eyes with a shaking hand. She laid him down on the rough dock, her hands supporting his head, and then she reluctantly drew away. Shifting into a kneeling position, she pulled a cell phone out of her pocket, dialing a number.

"Hello?" she said, when whoever she called picked up. "Yes, I – my father is dead. A heart attack."

Prue stared down at the young woman in amazement, exchanging shocked glances with her sisters. Father. This woman was Sam's daughter? How could he have a daughter, if Patty was the only woman he'd loved-

"Camp Skylark," the woman said, suddenly, snapping Prue out of her thoughts. "Down by the lake. Yes, I tried CPR. He's gone. You'll send an ambulance? Thank you."

After a long moment, Paige hung up the phone, slipping it back into the pocket of her jeans. She moved back beside her father's body, staring down at her hands with a helpless look on her face, but before she could do anything, Leo was gently pulling her to her feet.

"You shouldn't be the one to do this," he murmured, quietly, and then he took Paige's position by Sam's body, placing his hands over the man's chest.

He pressed down several times, rapidly, and the sound of a sharp crack had Paige gasping, stumbling back away from the scene with trembling hands held over her mouth.

"I'm sorry," Leo said, hurriedly, but Paige shook her head.

"It – it's okay," she said, her voice shaking. "I should have expected-"

"I can talk to the EMTs when they arrive," Leo offered, and Paige nodded, quickly.

"That's probably best," she said, quietly. "If we tell that that the three of you found him collapsed on the dock-"

"We've got everything under control," Leo reassured her. "Don't worry."

"You sound like my father," Paige told him, with a trembling smile. "He used to always tell me-"

Her voice broke suddenly on a sob, and she pressed her hands to her mouth, tightly, trying to hold back the flood of tears that threatened to emerge. She sank to her knees beside Sam's body, her shoulders shaking as she slumped over, and Prue stepped hesitantly forward. She cautiously put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder, and Paige jerked at her touch.

"I'm sorry," Prue said, as she exchanged awkward glances with her sisters.

Paige didn't look at Prue, she just continued to stare down at her father's body with a despondent look on her face.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice breaking on the words. "I should have been here – you never should have been facing that demon, alone-"

"He wasn't alone," Prue spoke up, regretting the words the instant they left her mouth as Paige finally glanced up at her.

There was a strange expression in her dark eyes, and for a moment, Prue thought that she was going to accuse them of having caused her father's death. It's what she would have done in the other woman's place, if she'd come upon the same scene. But, Paige surprised her by just nodding, wordlessly.

They stood around in an uncomfortable silence until the wail of distant sirens broke the tension that had fallen over the group. About a minute later, an ambulance was parking at the edge of the shoreline, a pair of uniformed medical techs carrying a stretcher down toward them.

They loaded Sam's body onto the stretcher, asking a few preliminary questions. Leo told them that they'd found Sam collapsed on the dock, and that he'd tried to resuscitate him. He lied that he thought that Sam had suffered a fatal heart attack, and the techs bought it at face value. They told Paige that she needed to stop at the hospital to fill out some paperwork, and then they put Sam in the back of the ambulance and drove off.

Paige stared after the departing vehicle with an absolutely devastated look on her face. For a few seconds, Prue thought that she was going to collapse, and that they were going to have another emergency on their hands. But, then the younger woman took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and marched resolutely up to the boathouse where Sam had been living.

"Should we follow her?" Prue asked, hesitantly, unwilling to intrude on Paige's privacy.

"No," Phoebe snapped, sarcastically, rolling her eyes."We should go home and have tea, and leave a grieving woman who _might well be our sister_ alone with her dead father's memory."

"She might not be our sister," Prue muttered, and Phoebe scoffed out a laugh.

"Right," she replied, disbelief in her voice. "Sam spends twenty-two years mourning our mother, only to fall in love with another woman and have a kid with her, not long after her death, apparently, since that woman isn't much younger than me."

"Both of you, knock it off," Piper interjected, before Prue could say anything in response. "There is a woman up there who just lost her father. Don't you think that might be a little more important than some petty sniping?"

Giving them both an admonishing glare, she abruptly turned and walked away, following Paige up the path to the boathouse, Leo right behind her.

"You think it's a middle sister thing?" Phoebe mused. "That whole cutting us off at the knees thing?"

"She's had a lot of practice, getting in the middle of the two of us over the years," Prue replied, as they followed Piper and Leo up to the boathouse.

"You think I'll ever learn how to do that?" Phoebe asked, wistfully.

They found Paige standing in front of the desk where Sam had kept Patty's love letters, staring down at the empty drawer.

"We've got the letters back at our house," Piper was saying, as they walked in. "We can-"

"Share custody?" Paige asked, quietly, with a weak chuckle. "Dad never knew that I found the letters," she went on, unconsciously wrapping her arms around her torso as she spoke. "I was going to confront him about them, but I just – I don't know if I really wanted to know."

"You mean that you have sisters?" Prue finished for her, and Paige nodded, wearily.

"Wasn't hard to figure out," she told them. "Mom kept talking about 'my girls' in the letters. Pretty obvious she wasn't talking about me."

"Why wouldn't you want to know?" Phoebe asked, curiously. "I mean, if it was me-"

"Dad always told me that Mom died about six months after I was born," Paige replied. "He never mentioned any other family, never even hinted at it, and when I found the letters-" She shook her head, trailing off. "One second, and my whole life changed. I was jealous of you, I guess, getting to have what I never did. Time with Mom."

"I'm sure she had a good reason for not being there," Phoebe protested, weakly, and Paige shrugged.

"At the time," she said, softly. "I didn't really care about reasons. I was just angry. At her, at Dad, at the whole world, it seemed."

"How old were you?" Piper asked, quietly.

"Fifteen," came the equally-quiet reply. "I was young, stupid-"

"If it helps," Prue spoke up, "the teenage years weren't the best years for any of us, either."

Paige smiled, briefly, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared, and the shadows were back in her eyes. She busied herself with tidying the newspaper clippings spread across the surface of the desk, her hands shaking slightly as she handled her father's belongings.

"Do you need any help?" Piper asked, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over them, but Paige shook her head.

"I think I need to just be alone, right now," Paige said. "If you don't mind."

"If you need us," Piper went on, scribbling quickly on a scrap of paper she dug out of her pocket, "here are our cell phone numbers. And, we're at thirteen-twenty-nine Prescott Street. If you need anything-"

"Thanks," Paige interrupted her, taking the paper and shoving it in the pocket of her jeans. "I – um – I'll be in touch; we should go out to lunch, some time."

Then, she turned back around in a clear dismissal. After a moment, Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Leo quietly left the boathouse, leaving Paige alone with her grief.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **In answer to a question I got in a review, there may yet be a companion piece to Thicker Than Water that covers Paige and Sam's early lives, but probably only flashbacks with this one. Anything else just doesn't fit the direction I'm going with this story. And, I'm thrilled to see the kind of reception I've been getting for this story. You guys are awesome.

* * *

The drive back to the Manor was quiet, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Phoebe finally broke the silence after they'd walked into the house.

"Why do you think Mom or Grams never told us about Paige?" she asked.

"Mom and Sam had to hide their relationship, just like Leo and I did," Piper spoke up. "Add a baby into a relationship that isn't supposed to exist in the first place-"

She let her voice trail off, but her sisters had no trouble filling in what was left unsaid.

"I'm going to go make some tea," Piper added, as she headed for the kitchen. "Does anyone want some?"

She got absent answers from both of her sisters that she took to be agreement, and she left them alone as she went into the kitchen. She filled the tea kettle and set it on the stove to heat up, and then she opened the potions cabinet and started reorganizing the ingredients, to keep her hands busy while she was waiting. Unfortunately, nothing could keep her thoughts, busy.

_'If Mom and Sam were so afraid of what the Elders would do to Paige, that they had to hide her existence from everyone, even us,'_ she thought, _'then how were Leo and I able to have our daughter, Melinda, in the future? Wouldn't she be just as forbidden as Paige was?'_

The easy answer was that finding Paige would pave the way for Melinda's birth, that when the Elders found out about her, they would do away with the restrictions on witches and Whitelighters being together. But, as pat as that answer was, it also raised even more questions. Like, where had Paige been in the future they'd gone to, why hadn't she been with her and Prue as they planned to break Phoebe out of prison?

_'In the future, Leo told us that Phoebe killed Cal Greene after he brutalized a dear friend of hers,'_ she thought. _'But, he didn't tell us any of that until after he knew that we'd come from the past, from a time before we knew Paige. What if he changed the details, what if Paige-'_

She had to stop there, because finishing that thought would have made her sick. She'd only known her youngest sister for barely an hour, but she was already as protective of Paige as she was of Prue and Phoebe, and if anything ever happened to her-

Piper decided not to tell Prue and Phoebe of her suspicions; no need to worry them, as well, for something that she had no proof of. But, she told herself that she was going to find a way to get a hold of Paige in the morning, to find out if she'd ever met, or even heard of, Cal Greene. They'd just found their sister, and she'd be damned if they were going to lose her, now.

The sharp whistle of the tea kettle jolted her out of her thoughts, and she quickly took the kettle off the stove before it could start burning. She poured three cups, setting them on a tray, and then she carried the tray out into the living room where Prue and Phoebe were sitting on the couch, sitting in an armchair across from them, and placing the tray on the coffee table.

"I'm not going into work," Prue said, before Piper could speak. "I called Jack, told him that I was sick. I don't think he bought it, but he promised to cover for me, anyway."

"We're putting a scrapbook together of Mom's letters to Sam," Phoebe added, gesturing to the pile of papers spread out on the coffee table in front of them, and the photo album open on her knees. "I thought it might be nice to share with Paige, too."

"We don't even know where she lives," Prue realized, a moment later. "You don't think she lived in that boathouse with Sam, do you?"

"We didn't see any signs that anyone other than Sam lived there," Piper reminded her. "And, besides, Paige orbed in from somewhere else."

"So, no address, no phone number," Phoebe said. "Do you think that Leo can find her for us?"

Both of them automatically looked over at Piper, like she would know the answer, but Piper shrugged.

"Don't look at me," she told them. "I haven't seen Leo since he orbed out of the car when the Elders called him. He's probably still up there, talking to them about Paige."

"Do you think they're mad about Paige?" Phoebe asked, after a moment.

"Mom and Sam broke one of their biggest rules and kept it a secret for over twenty years," Prue pointed out. "Of course they're mad."

"I don't know," Piper spoke up. "I mean, Paige was orbing, and she tried to heal Sam. If she's using Whitelighter powers, doesn't it make sense that the Elders would have found out about her, before now?"

Any answer Prue would have made was cut off by someone orbing into the living room. The orbs coalesced into Leo, who sat down on the arm of Piper's chair.

"The Elders didn't know about Paige," Leo said, without preamble, indicating that he'd heard the tail end of their conversation. "At least, not until Sam died. His death undid the last of the protections that he and your mother put on Paige, to keep the Elders from finding her."

"Are they angry?" Piper asked, voicing the question that was on all of their minds.

"About being lied to, sure," Leo said, with a shrug. "But, there's not a whole lot they can do about Paige, now. They want to talk to Paige, because she's the first Whitelighter-witch that they know about in over five hundred years, but they're not going to bother her. Apparently, she's a strong witch, and she's done a lot of good fighting demons over the years, and they don't want to mess with that."

"So, they're being generous, but only because they have their reasons," Prue commented, shrewdly.

"Hey, the Elders don't think like the rest of us do," Leo protested.

"Besides," Phoebe added, "do we really care what their reasons are, so long as they leave Paige alone?"

"You said that Paige was the first Whitelighter-witch in over five hundred years," Piper spoke up, picking up on Leo's little slip. "Do you mean that there have been more before her?"

Leo looked sheepish, like he wasn't supposed to let them know that little detail, and for a moment, Piper didn't think that he was going to answer. But, then he nodded.

"The ban on witches and Whitelighters being together is only about five hundred years old," he replied. "Before that, it was uncommon, but it wasn't forbidden."

"Something had to have happened to make the Elders so wary," Prue pointed out.

"I'm getting to that," Leo told them, unruffled by her impatience. "So, it never used to be an issue, until a witch named Genevieve Bodie gave birth to twins. The babies were half-Whitelighter, and the younger twin grew up fine."

"And the older one?" Piper prompted, wondering what Leo was so reluctant to tell them.

"He turned evil," Leo admitted, after a moment. "Started performing blood sacrifices, terrorizing the village he lived in – he even killed his own brother, when his twin tried to stop him."

"And the Elders thought that it was because he was half-Whitelighter?" Prue guessed, and Leo nodded.

"They didn't know for sure," he replied. "But they couldn't take the chance that it was what caused his turn for evil. So, after the boy had been vanquished, the Elders passed a law that any relations between witches and Whitelighters was strictly forbidden, and anyone caught breaking the rules would be severely punished."

"Do you think Sam knew about this?" Piper asked, but Leo shook his head.

"None of did, Up There," he answered. "The Elders kept it a tight secret; I only found out about it because of Paige."

"They don't think-" Phoebe started, but Leo shook his head.

"Like I said, there was no proof that being half-Whitelighter turned that boy evil in the first place," he replied. "For all anyone knew, he would have turned evil, regardless of his heritage."

"They're not going to do anything to Paige, are they?" Piper asked, darkly, a surge of protectiveness rising up inside her.

"And bring the collective wrath of the Halliwell family down on them?" Leo asked, wryly. "No, the Elders aren't going to touch Paige."

"Good," Piper declared, taking a sip of her forgotten tea, and grimacing at the cold, bitter liquid. "Gonna go get a refill. Anyone want some more?"

She got negative replies from her sisters, and when she stood to go to the kitchen, Leo followed her. He hovered nervously in the doorway to the kitchen as she poured herself a new cup of tea.

"Did the Elders say anything about us?" Piper finally asked, quietly, and she could hear Leo let out a gusty sigh from behind her.

"They did have a few words on that topic," he admitted. "We did break the rules, after all, even if the rule is kind of moot at this point."

"Are we in trouble?" Piper wanted to know, but Leo shook his head.

"Slap on the wrist," he told her, "and mostly for me, since I knew about the restrictions, and you didn't. My wings are clipped for a while. For a few months, probably. My charges, including you three, are temporarily reassigned to new Whitelighters until the Elders decide that I'm back on duty."

"So, you're human," Piper said, and Leo nodded.

"For a little while," he reminded her. "Long enough for us to figure out this thing between us, anyway. If there is still an us?" he prompted, a hopeful note in his voice.

"I care about Dan," Piper said, knowing what Leo was hinting at. "And, if my life were different, I think I could do a lot more than care for him."

"But-" Leo prompted, when she fell silent.

"But, Dan isn't the man that I married in the future," Piper finished. "The man that I loved enough to have a daughter with. You are."

Leo looked absolutely floored by her revelation, and Piper realized a moment too late that they'd never told Leo what they'd really seen in the future.

"A daughter?" he asked, in astonishment, and Piper decided that, in for a penny, in for a pound, and she nodded. "We're going to have a daughter?" Leo repeated, wonderingly.

"If you play your cards right," Piper teased him, gently.

"Well," Leo commented, "I've got nothing but time these next few months to show you how much I love you."

"All thanks to the Elders," Piper finished for him, and then she stopped as something occurred to her. "Wait a minute, you don't think they did that on purpose, did you?"

A considering look crossed Leo's face as he pondered her words, and then he shrugged. "If they did," he asked, "are you really complaining?"

"Not one bit," Piper decided, as she wound an arm around Leo's neck and pulled him down for a kiss. "Not one bit."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** I'm sorry for the long update. Had some writer's block, but I think I finally got this story back on track.

* * *

After the Halliwell sisters – _her_ sisters – left, Paige spent some time cleaning up her father's things. She'd lost count of all the times she'd teased him about the mess on his desk, and all the times he'd promised to clean it up. He'd never have the chance, now.

Remembering her father sent a pang through her heart, and she closed her eyes as grief washed over her. She fought to hold back the sobs that threatened to explode out of her.

_'I miss you so much, Dad. I'm so sorry I wasn't there when I should have been.'_

Then, she pushed the grief down, to deal with it later. She had too much to do, and she had Aiden to think about. She couldn't afford to fall apart, not right now. She needed to pull herself together. Pulling out her cell phone, she hit the first number on her speed dial, listening to it ring.

"Kier," she choked out, when her ex picked up.

"Paige?" Concern was palpable in Kieran's voice, and she could practically see his hackles rising. "Paige, what's wrong?"

"It's my dad," she told him, and she heard Kieran sigh, heavily. "He's gone, Kier."

"A demon?" Kieran asked, and Paige could only nod, even though she knew he couldn't see her. "Paige, is it still out there?"

"No," Paige managed. "The demon's been vanquished. I just – I don't know what to do." Her voice wavered, and she scrubbed at the tears that sprang to her eyes. "I feel lost. Feel like I'm drowning."

"I know," Kieran said, softly, and just hearing the words helped a little bit. "Do you want me to come out there?"

Paige considered saying yes for all of two seconds, but then she bit the words back. Kieran had a life now, had Nancy, and they were starting a family. He needed to be with his wife, didn't need to be all the way across the country, holding her hand.

"No, I'm okay," she said, and she knew that Kieran knew she was lying. He didn't press her on it, though. "I just wish I knew where to start," she said, sighing.

"Pick one thing," Kieran told her, "and work on it. You're sitting at Sam's old desk, right, looking at that mess?"

"How'd you know?" Paige asked, cracking a small smile.

"Because I know you," Kieran remarked. "Just find a box and start putting things in it. It's going to be hard; hell, it's going to be damn near impossible at first, but it's a place to start."

"Yeah," Paige said. "Find a box, okay. God," she muttered, shakily. "This _hurts_. It hurts to breathe."

"Paige, if you need me," Kieran started, but Paige cut him off.

"What I need," she said, quietly, "is time. I've said the same thing to hundreds of Innocents over the years. You'd think I could take my own advice."

"It's different when it's family," Kieran reminded her. "Trust me. Remember how much of a wreck I was when my mom showed up when we were kids?"

"Yeah, I remember," Paige replied. "Thanks, Kier. For listening, for everything-"

"Always," Kieran said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Oh, I'm anything but," Paige told him. "But, I'm over the part that wants to orb into the Underworld on a vanquishing spree, so I guess that's something."

"You and Aiden should come out for the weekend," Kieran suggested. "We'll take the boat out the middle of nowhere, go fishing, spend some time with the family."

"Sounds nice," Paige said. "Might be nice to get out of San Francisco after Dad's funeral." She sighed, thinking. "I still have to go to the morgue to claim his body, I have to go to the funeral home, make arrangements, and figure out how to tell Aiden."

"If you need me, I'm here," Kieran told her. "Just call."

"I will," Paige promised. "Love you, Kier."

"Love you, too," came the reply, and then the phone went dead in her ear.

Pocketing her phone, Paige looked at the mess on the desk, again. She knew she was just avoiding the inevitable, but she just couldn't bring herself to start boxing her father's things up, yet. So, she was going to do the one thing even harder, and go make her father's funeral arrangements.

Paige orbed into an alley near San Francisco Memorial, where the techs had told her they were taking her father. Her work badge was in her pocket where she'd stuffed it after she'd gotten off her shift, and she clipped it to her belt. The front desk receptionist called out to her as she moved through the lobby, and Paige waved without stopping.

The morgue was in the basement, down at the end of a long hallway. The morgue was colder than the rest of the hospital, and Paige shivered as she badged her way into the room.

Amelia Rhodes, one of the medical examiners and Paige's old college roommate, was working. Paige had known Amelia for years; they'd been friends since the day Paige had saved her life and vanquished her warlock girlfriend. Amelia was one of the few mortals Paige trusted with her secret, and her life.

"Hey, what's up?" she greeted Paige, cheerfully. "What does Social Services want, today? You don't have a case down here, do you?" She glanced back at the storage drawers, worriedly.

"No, not a case," Paige told her. "Personal, actually. My, uh-" She choked on the words, clearing her throat to continue. "My dad was brought in earlier. A heart attack out by the lake at Camp Skylark."

"Paige, I'm so sorry," Amelia said, sympathetically, and Paige murmured a quiet thanks. "Your dad's name was Sam, right?" Amelia went on, as she started typing on her computer. "Sam Wilder?"

"Yeah," Paige said, wrapping her arms around her stomach as she stared at the cold, metal drawers. She wasn't sure she could handle seeing her father like that.

"Paige," Amelia said, a minute later, "there's no record of your dad in the system."

"No, that's not possible," Paige protested. "They told me I had to come down, fill out paperwork."

"Maybe another hospital," Amelia suggested, but Paige shook her head.

"They said Memorial," she protested. "One of the EMTs was Cartwright; he only works here. Amelia, where's my dad?" Her voice hit a shrill, slightly hysterical note, and she could feel herself starting to fall apart.

Amelia was already on the phone, and she held up a finger for silence. "John, it's Amelia," she said. "Hey, did you guys get a pickup out at that old Camp Skylark? Heart attack victim? No, really? Okay, thanks John." She hung up the phone, giving Paige a look.

"Let me guess," Paige said, before Amelia could speak. "They haven't had any calls out by the lake."

"Two drowning victims were pulled out, yesterday," Amelia told her. "But, no heart attack."

"I know about the drownings," Paige said, getting a raised eyebrow from Amelia in response. "Dad called, told me that the demon was active again. I told him to let me handle it, but he said that he wasn't going to let me anywhere near the thing that killed my mother. He told me he was going to stay away," she went on. "He promised me that he would stay safe."

"Parents lie," Amelia said, quietly. "Especially your dad, especially when it comes to this stuff."

"Yeah, I know," Paige sighed. "But that doesn't change the fact that he lied to me, and now's he's gone, and I can't even find his body."

"Well," Amelia suggested, "your dad was an angel, right? Or, a retired angel, anyway. Maybe his body kind of disappeared." At Paige's incredulous look, she shrugged. "Hey, I'm just throwing ideas out there. You're the expert, you tell me what happened."

"My dad's been mortal for over twenty years," Paige argued. "Whitelighter rules don't apply. Amelia, I held him in my arms when he died."

"Could something have happened?" Amelia asked. "Something magical?"

"Yeah," Paige muttered, "something just yanked my dad's body out of the morgue and made people forget he ever died. Do you know the kind of power-" She froze, eyes widening in comprehension. "The kind of power it would take to do something like that." she finished, flatly. "Damn it."

"I take it you know what's going on?" Amelia asked, and Paige nodded.

"I have a few people to go yell at," Paige told her. "I gotta go; I'll talk to you when I can."

"Be careful," Amelia said, hugging her. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Paige replied.

She left the hospital, and from the alley, orbed straight up. She needed height, needed air. Most importantly, she needed a place where no one could see her. On top of the Golden Gate Bridge, Paige tipped her head back and stared up at the clouds.

"I know you can hear me," she called out, "and I know you know who I am. I want to talk to an Elder." No answer. "Look," she went on, starting to get annoyed, "you did something to my dad. I want to know what the _hell_ is going on. Now, get your cosmic asses down here!"

Golden orbs filled the air in front of her, forming in a blonde-haired woman in white robes. "You rang?"

"What did you do to my father?" Paige asked.

"Well, you're certainly a blunt one, aren't you?" the woman asked, a cheerful smile on her face. "I'm Sandra."

"I'm out of patience," Paige snapped. "Where's my dad?"

The smile froze on Sandra's face. "Resting," she answered, shortly. "The transition from mortal to Whitelighter can be tiring."

"You turned him into a Whitelighter, again?" Paige demanded. "My dad clipped his wings."

"We restored them," Sandra told her.

"You turned my dad into a Whitelighter, again," Paige said, flatly. "And then you neglected the part where you tell his family he's not really dead."

"There are rules in place," Sandra protested, but Paige snorted out a cynical laugh.

"Rules, right," she said. "The rules that had me and my father on the run my whole life, kept me from ever knowing my mother, or my sisters. You want to know what I think you can do with your rules?"

"You really are a Halliwell, aren't you?" Sandra asked, wryly.

"Were you just going to continue to let me think that my father was dead?" Paige asked. "Let me grieve, let me tell my daughter that she could never see her grandfather, again? All the while, he's alive and well."

"In time, we would have allowed you contact," Sandra told her. "Paige, your anger is understandable."

"Understandable?" Paige echoed. "Well, I feel so much better, now that you understand my anger. How about you understand this? It's my fault that he's dead."

"You couldn't have prevented Sam's mortal death," Sandra protested, but Paige shook her head.

"I should have been there," she said. "I should have fought that demon. Do you have any idea what it's like, knowing that someone you love is dead because of you?" Tears sprang to her eyes, but she didn't bother wiping them away. She was tired of fighting her grief.

"I'll talk to the Council," Sandra said, after a moment. "Two days, Paige. I will talk to the Council about you and Sam, and I'll contact you in two days. My word."

"Thank you," Paige managed, and Sandra brushed a hand across her shoulder before she orbed away.

Paige stared up at the empty sky for a long moment before orbing back down. Life didn't stop because the Elders decide to flip her life around, and she still had a lot to do.


End file.
